InterVarsity: Serious Business

One of the things I love about being an IV staff worker is that part of my job is getting to do fun things with students. This week, it was hanging out with my disciple group - something I've been unable to do for a while. It was actually a great chance to just hang out with the guys, which I've been realizing lately that I've been a little poor at. So, by way of remedying that, I took them out to Kelly's a local burger place converted from an old car dealership with some pretty excellent food. We conversed over buffalo burgers and an enormous grilled chicken salad, which might not have been the best choice for the next part of the day: rock climbing. I haven't been rock climbing in years, which was really an unfortunate turn of events since I really like it. Granted, I've never really been any good at it, but it's a great way to hang out. I took the group out to the Stone Age Climbing Gym, where we got to spend a few hours scrambling over (and occasionally falling off) the wall and bouldering areas. Great fun, and a nice change of pace from our normal more serious meetings.

The Large Group was fun as well. This last one was our worship night, so the worship team prepared a set to take us all the way through the night. It was great to devote a significant time to worship. I also really enjoy seeing other people getting into worship in their own way, and the night definitely had that. Students felt free to raise their arms, kneel on the ground, and sit off to the side making art. It's interesting - I've actually found that I feel much freer to worship at IV than at my church. I guess it might just be a matter of precedent, or maybe just the music choice at church versus Large Groups, but there is a strong sense of the presence of God at these kinds of worship events that I seldom feel anywhere else. To spend an hour and a half worshiping in that way is really an awesome experience.

This past weekend was our work day, a fundraiser to help students get to Chapter Camp this summer. We generally get a fair number of odd jobs involving things like raking leaves or pulling weeds. This year was a "bumper crop," though, with 22 jobs to split between UNM and Tech. Not only did it end up being a fantastic opportunity to serve and fellowship with one another, but we also were blessed to receive a really great amount of money to help the students.

Well, the time is approaching for me to begin my fundraising for the next year officially. Please pray for me as I begin this process. I feel pretty busy now, but I know that I'll really need to get it started quickly since I'll be even busier in the coming months. The official number is just over $33,000 or about 2.5x what I raised for the internship, which honestly seems pretty daunting. But I'm sure that if God is truly calling me to this endeavor, He'll certainly provide for my needs in this fundraising.

"Surely the righteous will praise your name
and the upright will live before you."
- Psalm 140:13